he just had in the white house briefing room try to leverage the emotional power of the tragedy in newtown, connecticut, to try to put the pressure on republicans. he talked about them taking off their partisan war paint. he said he'd more than met them halfway in terms of spending cuts that he's offered, coming up in the income threshold for tax increases, and he has the upper hand in public opinion. there's no question about that. he is not surrendering that at this point. the question is whether speaker john boehner can move his caucus, even as far as he's already moved further toward the president. that's what the next couple days are going to be about. >> thank you very much, john. do you think, you think really sort of rumbling that we're hearing means that we have actually moved further away from the possibility of what i'm going to call the first of the 12 days of cliffness? >> insiders in both parties are telling me they think the prospects of no deal and going over the cliff have risen significantly. now, i continue to think that the fundamentals exist, as the president said in h